Data Representation

Discrete & Continuous Data

Ungrouped & Grouped Data
Stem plots
Histogram
Cumulative frequency curve

Discrete & Continuous Data

Discrete data are obtained by counting.

Their values are exact whole numbers.
Eg: The number of eggs produced in a
farm.
Continuous data are obtained by
measurement. They are not exact and are
measured to a certain degree of accuracy.
Eg: The heights of Form 6 students in
SMK Lutong.

Ungrouped data

The scores obtained for 20 trials in a game

are as follow:
1 5
4
2
2
1
0
2
2 0
3
1
3
2
2
3
1 1
4
2
The data can be summarised as a frequency
distribution:

Scores
Frequency

0
2

1
5

2
7

3
3

4
2

5
1

Grouped Data

The height of a group of 30 students

are as follow:

Height (cm)
Frequency

151 156 - 161 - 166 - 171 - 176 -155 160 165 170 175 180
2

10

Notethat
(i) thesamedatacanbegroupedusingdifferentintervals,
(ii) theoriginalvaluesofthedataarelostwhendataaregrouped.

Stem plots
(stem & leaf diagrams)

This is a systematic way of grouping data

without any loss of the original
information.
For example, consider the following data:
99 108 106 110 118 130 119 125
138 131 132 136 129 121 122 140
141 138 150 140 155 106 115 100

Stem plots
(stem & leaf diagrams)

Use the first two digits as the stem: 09, 11, 12, 13, 14
and 15, and the last digits as the leaf: 0, 1, 2, , 9.
Stem
leaf
09
9
10
8
6
6
0
11
0
8
9
5
12
5
9
1
2
13
0
8
1
2
6
8
14
0
1
0
15
0
5
Theleafdigitsarearrangedasintherawdata.They

needtoorganised&arrangedinascendingorder.

Stem plots
(stem & leaf diagrams)

After rearranging the leaf digits, the stem plots is as

follow:
Stem
leaf
09
9
10
0
6
6
8
11
0
5
8
9
12
1
2
5
9
13
0
1
2
6
8
8
14
0
0
15
0
5

Key: 15|5means155

Stem plots
(stem & leaf diagrams)

A stem plot gives a good picture of the

data distribution.
We can also read the highest values
and the lowest value as well as the
mode from stem plots.
When there are two data samples, we
can draw back to back stem plots to
compare these data.

Histogram

Histogram with equal class widths

Example: The blood pressures of 100
patients in a hospital.
Histogram with unequal class widths
Example: The speed of 100 vehicles
passing a checkpoint.

Cumulative Frequency Curves

The total frequency of all values less

than the upper class boundary of a
given class interval is called the
cumulative frequency.
A graph showing the information in a
cumulative frequency table is called a
cumulative frequency curve or ogive
.